When you are craving shawarma but don’t have the time or the rotisserie, this will scratch that itch
Sheet pan chicken shawarma wraps
Description
Chicken shawarma is one of the most comforting and soulful foods one could eat. Here, I bake ground chicken in the oven for a fast meal that's easy to make and easy to clean up. The deeply seasoned meat, fresh veggies and soft pita hits the spot, anytime of the day (yes, I even eat these for breakfast when we have leftovers. Eggs are so boring). With an herbed yogurt sauce, lightly pickled carrots, feta crumbles, and a drizzle, or more, of hot sauce, it's almost criminal not to make these, especially because it's so easy. While I can't claim these are "authentic", but the recipe draws influence from a few recipes from the Levant region. It also easily doubles to feed a crowd.
Ingredients
For the pickled carrot
For the chicken
For the yogurt sauce
To serve
Instructions
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Pickled carrots
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a 9x13 sheet pan with parchment paper and drizzle with oil. Set aside.
Slice the carrot very thinly using a very sharp knife or use a mandolin (for small projects I like Oxo's handheld, linked here). Mix remaining pickling ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
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Chicken
Finely mince the onion, garlic and parsley, or put them in a food processor and pulse a few times until minced, and scrape into a large bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and mix well, being careful not squeeze the meat together, stir using your hands or a large spoon till fully combined. Squeezing the meat can make it tougher.
Scrape chicken mixture onto sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Using a bench scraper or large knife gently press the chicken into four sections lengthwise. Don't cut all the way through, only go about half way through. Do the same going perpendicular, every one or two inches, again, not cutting all the way through.
Bake in the middle of the over about 10 minutes. Turn off oven and turn on the broiler. Move pan to second position below broiler and broil a few minutes till it's deep golden on top, being careful not to burn it. This should only take a few minutes or so.
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Make the yogurt sauce
While the chicken is in the oven, combine all ingredients for the yogurt in a small bowl and set aside.Â
Wrap the pita in foil and set aside.
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Assemble the wraps
Once the chicken is out of the oven, turn is off and put the pita on the bottom rack of the oven.
To assemble:
On one side of a pita, spread yogurt sauce on the now warmed pita and top with several pieces of the chicken (use your judgement but don't over stuff), top with the cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, shallots, pickled carrots and feta. Drizzle with hot sauce, olive oil and sprinkle with the ground sumac. Repeat with remaining pitas.
Or, have folks assemble their own wraps so they can use what and how much they want.